Matthew wrote to show that Christ
was the
Messiah and fulfilled the Jewish prophecies.

It
will be as when a man who was going on a journey called in his servants and
entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents; to
another, two; to a third, one - to each according to his ability. Then he
went away. Immediately the one who received five talents went and traded
with them, and made another five. Likewise, the one who received two made
another two. But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the
ground and buried his master's money.

After
a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with
them. The one who had received five talents came forward bring the
additional five. He said, 'Master, you gave me five talents. See, I
have made five more. His master said to him, 'Well done my good and
faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give
you great responsibilities, Come, share your master's joy.' Then the
one who had received two talents also came forward and said, 'Master, you gave
me two talents. See, I have made two more.' His master said to him,
'Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small
matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master's
joy.' Then the one who had received the one talent came forward and said,
'Master, I knew you were a demanding person, harvesting where you did not plant
and gathering where you did not scatter; so out of fear I went off and buried
your talent in the ground. Here it is back. His master said to him
in reply, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I
did not plant and gather where I did not scatter? Should you not then have
put my money in the bank so that I could have got it back with interest on my
return?

Now
then! Take the talent from him and give it to the one with ten. For
to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one
who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And throw this useless
servant into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of
teeth.'

“Fear
is the chief activator of our faults.” This adage, sometimes attributed to St.
Theresa and often used in 12-step programs, touches on a profound truth.
Specifically, how can we be ruled by fear. It is not for nothing that a common
phrase throughout the scriptures is “Do not be afraid.” Whether from Our Lord
Himself or His angelic messengers, the exhortation touches on a basic reaction
of our fallen human nature: to fear God. Indeed, this was the first reaction of
fallen man: “I was afraid … so I hid.” (Gn 3:10) Those first words of man
neatly summarize his behavior though out the ages.

We
can discern the presence of fear at the deepest root of every sin. Even in the
sin of Adam we can perhaps detect the fear of missing out on becoming like a god
if he did not eat of the tree. So also today, we commit sins of even the
greatest gravity not typically out of malice, but out of fear. We fear
rejection, suffering or pain – so we make a mess of it instead. Our anger and
envy, for example, usually proceed from a fear of being less than others, of
being passed over.

But
the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30) shows how fear operates in another
regard. The parable tells of three servants entrusted with talents – one with
five, the second with two and the third with only one. The first two servants
invest their wealth and make a profit on what the master had given them. The
third however, buried his talent and therefore has no profit to show the master
upon his return. It is thus a parable primarily about the failure to invest the
gifts of God. But the servant’s motive for hiding his talents is instructive:
“Out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.” (Mt 25:25)

In
this case, fear prompts the servant to commit not a horrendous sin but a sin of
omission – and for that reason the parable is even more instructive. The third
servant did not steal from his master. He did not spend the talent on some
immoral activity. He simply failed to invest what the master had given him …
out of fear. This should prompt us to consider how fear keeps us from growing
in the Faith.

Our
Lord calls each of us to greater devotion, intimacy and holiness. Why do we not
respond? Why do we bury the gifts of grace that He entrusts us? What do we
fear? Perhaps we fear failure – in which case we should meditate on the fact
that if we die trying for heaven, we win. The saints had plenty of failures on
their way to perfection. Indeed, perfection was not theirs until death.
Perhaps we fear losing the kind of life we want – in which case we should
meditate on God’s goodness to us, that He desires something for us far exceeding
what we can imagine. Perhaps we fear the effort needed, that it would disrupt
an otherwise comfortable life. Ironically this often drives us to expend more
energy avoiding the Lord and burying our gifts than simple outright generosity
would demand.

In
the end, it is a failure of love, a failure to think first of God that leads to
fear. “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 Jn 4:18) – because when we enter into
that relationship of love with the Father we realize that we have nothing to
fear in our feeble, repeated attempts to serve Him. He is patient with His
children and delights in their efforts. We should not bury our gifts out of
fear but invest them in full confidence that our heavenly Father delights in
even the smallest effort to bear fruit.